To BA V6 owners, help wanted. Beer or alternatives provided

[BAbyV6]

Hello fellow SA enthusiasts,

I have been in the unfortunate situation that my BA series 2 has been having some annoying running issues with hesitation & loss of power from the engine since I purchased the car & am fast running out of possible causes.

The parts I am getting down to are kind of expensive. I am looking to try another Air Flow Meter in my car, however even just to try one & then return if it's not the fault is rather major. I am also questioning the integrity of the distributor I've had rebuilt & don't completely trust it either.

I have already replaced my Distributor coil & ignitor, ECU, TPS, O2 sensors, fuel pressure regulator, fuel filter & most of my vacuum hoses.

So I am asking if anyone out there has a V6 Astina in good working order that would mind if I try a couple of their parts out in my car for a few hours just to determine if it may be the root cause of my issues. I am willing to pay for the use of these, whether it be beer, some cash or similar.

I have been trying to figure out this problem for about 5 months now but to no avail. Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers,

Jared

[project.r.racing]

99% sure it would have been spark plug leads. Any reason why you haven't tried to see if they are failing beforehand? As hesitation on accelleration is normally leads.

[BAbyV6]

Originally Posted by project.r.racing

99% sure it would have been spark plug leads. Any reason why you haven't tried to see if they are failing beforehand? As hesitation on accelleration is normally leads.

Sorry I knew there was some things I forgot to add to that list of things I've done. Yes I've replaced everything in the ignition system. Plugs, leads, cap & rotor have also been replaced. All but the spark plugs were replaced before the dissy failed, but it still did anyway. Replaced the plugs with NGK Iridiums even though they only had about 10,000kms on them & this didn't help either.

I actually have a fair bit of experience with this kind of thing as I used to do automotive diagnostics for a living, but I'm trying to keep my costs down.

My next step after this is going to be to stick it on a dyno if I can't solve it soon. It is something that can not be checked while the car is stationary without load unfortunately.

[project.r.racing]

Condition of air filter, fuel filter and fuel injectors?

[maztech]

Are the plugs correct heat range for the car , when exactly is the problem , hot cold full acceleration part throttle etc

[BAbyV6]

Originally Posted by project.r.racing

Condition of air filter, fuel filter and fuel injectors?

Air filter is near new, fuel filter was also replaced, I have run a fuel cleaner through the system, but has had no effect.

Originally Posted by maztech

Are the plugs correct heat range for the car , when exactly is the problem , hot cold full acceleration part throttle etc

Both sets of plugs have been the correct specification for the vehicle. The problem can happen when the engine is both hot or cold. Light throttle is ok, but mid to full throttle at anything from idle to 3500rpm can see this problem occur.

There is generally no issue with top end power & it will rev cleanly to the redline once it's had it's dummy spit. It mainly occurs when transitioning from light to mid/heavy throttle, but may take a moment to happen. The power loss can last anything from a fraction to several seconds when it occurs, which is more or less 2/3rds of the time when accelerating.

It's not been an easy one try & solve by any means & the point that I'm at is after having talked to a few expert friends in the trade several times as well as a few current/former mazda V6 owners.

Sticky injectors is a possibility, but I would like to try another AFM if I can first since injectors is a much bigger job. With all the injector testing I used to do I would have found only a few really dirty fuel injectors that had an issue & their fuel system was heavily contaiminated. When I pulled my regulator off during the week I checked inside the fuel rail which was very clean.

If you can make any other suggestions from here I'm all ears.

[maztech]

Do off car injector clean also test fuel pressure when driving and do a flow test on fuel pump. Sounds like a fuel issue . Injectors you can slide out towards the air cleaner side . Remove air box and transfer fuel hose on the drivers side of the rail be careful of the spacers under the fuel rail. You dont need to remove the manifold. Does the car have any codes in it. I have also seen the coolant temp sensor for the PCM cause this type of flat spot.

[BAbyV6]

Originally Posted by maztech

Do off car injector clean also test fuel pressure when driving and do a flow test on fuel pump. Sounds like a fuel issue . Injectors you can slide out towards the air cleaner side . Remove air box and transfer fuel hose on the drivers side of the rail be careful of the spacers under the fuel rail. You dont need to remove the manifold. Does the car have any codes in it. I have also seen the coolant temp sensor for the PCM cause this type of flat spot.

I have considered doing an injector clean, just trying to eliminate other issues first that won't cost so much to check. Normally it's something like $20 per injector to get them cleaned this way, so we're talking $120 for something that may not be an issue & will require me to borrow a car for possibly 2 days to go get soughted out.
As far as checking the fuel pressure on the move goes I don't actually know anyone with the equipment to do this so would have to take it to a workshop for more $$$ may as well buy a damn test kit in that case.
For me, that the car has full power at full throttle and at maximum RPM should indicate no issues with fuel delivery from the pump unless the power feed to the pump has issues, which come to think of it may be a possibility. Could be an alternator issue too.
The car has never produced codes unless I've been disconnecting things & experimenting. If I drive it for several weeks without playing with it, there will still be no codes. Will check the coolant temperature sensor values though.

I would still like to borrow an AFM just to ensure that side of things is ok & put my mind at peace about it being an issue if anyone out there has one they can lend me.